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I
couldn't believe my ears the first time I put this CD on, the sound is
awful - I've heard better productions in the 80's! And it totally kills
a lot of the fun with this album, sometimes the keyboards disappears in
a big puddle of mud. And I won't even get into the drum production!
Guitars, bass and vocals are decent at best...
But
what counts is the music, and I must admit that some of these songs are
excellent, but the rest is awful. The first 3 songs are uninspired and
untight, and I am not sure why they are using an aggressive background
vocalist here. I do normally not have a problem with the mixture, but
they way they incorporate it here is simply awful to me. But it's not
just that the songs are simply dreadful, if they use the aggressive
vocals like they do in "Human Quest", then it's OK.
Some
the songs - "Thermopylae", "Human Quest", "Krakatau"
and "Knights of the Black Cross" - shows a band, that are
capable of writing very good progressive metal tunes, but they need to
focus on their strengths and throw away those awful aggressive parts.
The 3 short intermezzos are actually nicely crafted as well.
Put focus back on writing progressive metal songs, give
them a better production and I am sure they'll deliver a good album.
This one does not qualify for more than just OK, with the exception of
"
Krakatau
", which is an outstanding progressive metal song!
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